If you have a medical condition that impacts your life activities, you may be entitled to reasonable accommodations to help you perform your job. Under federal law, employers with 15 or more employees are generally required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities as long as doing so would not create an undue hardship on the employer or create a direct threat to the employee or others in the workplace. Once the employer knows of the employee’s need for an accommodation, the employer has an obligation to engage in an interactive process with the employee to determine an appropriate accommodation. 

Types of reasonable accommodations can include telework, an adjusted schedule, special equipment, or readers or interpreters. Courts have also held that time off work to heal from a medical condition or obtain treatment can be a reasonable accommodation. This is true even if the employee has already used all available sick leave under company policies, or if the employee is not eligible for FMLA leave. As a last resort, if no other reasonable accommodation will be effective, the employer can reassign an employee to a different vacant position as an accommodation. 

If you need an accommodation to be able to do your job, it is best to request one in writing. Your employer may ask you to provide a note from your doctor or to have your doctor complete a form identifying your limitations and suggested accommodations. An employer’s failure to provide a needed accommodation is considered disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If your employer fails to accommodate you and then terminates you because you are unable to perform the essential functions of the job without a reasonable accommodation, you may have a legal claim for discrimination. Similarly, if you request an accommodation and are then terminated because you made the request, you likely have a viable retaliation claim under the law. 

We have represented a number of clients with medical issues who have experienced workplace discrimination, harassment, and failure to provide needed accommodations. If you have a disability of medical condition that is impacting you at work, please reach out to schedule a consultation.